Fuel-compressor.



Ptented 1an. |5, 'manA No; 665,972; w A, PATTERSON. FUEL *COMPRESSORy(lll) Nudel.)

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W. A. PATTEBSUN. FUEL CUIIPBESS-B. (Appumiau med' .my 1s. 1900.)

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rTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WARREN A. PATTERSON, OF DALLAS, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-FIFTIIS TOJOSEPH A. SOLOMON, OF NEV YORK, N. Y., AND MERIDETH A. SULLIVAN, CHARLESL. SANGER, DANIEL WEIL, ALEXANDER WEIL, AND DANIEL WISE, OF WAGO, TEXAS.

FU ELCO\V|PRESSOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 665,972, dated January15, 1901.

Application filed .Tuly 16, 1900. Serial No. 23,745. (No model.)

To al?, whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, WARREN A. PATTERSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city of Dallas, county of Dallas, State of Texas, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Fuel-Compressors, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse ro the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a sideelevational view of my improved fuel-compressor. Fig. 2 is a verticalsectional View through the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view.Fig. 4 is an end elevational View. Fig. 5 is a sectional view on line 55, Fig. 3; and Fig. 6 is a crosssectional View of almodilied form ofhousing.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement infuel-compressors, the object being to break up or crush fuel to becompressed, preferably in the form of corncobs, and introducing a liquidcombustible matez 5 rial during the crushing operation of the fuel,

the crushed mass mixed with the liquid oombustible falling in the pathof a vibrating plunger, which serves to compress the material, suitablemechanism being provided at each end of the machine for forming thecoinpressed fuel into blocks of convenient size for handling.

With this object in view the invention consists in the arrangement,construction, and combination of the several parts, all as willhereinafter be described and afterward pointed out in the claims.

In applications :filed contemporaneously with this case I have describedand claimed the method of making the blocks of fuel referred to in thiscase and also described and claimed the fuel as an article ofmanufacture, These applications referred to are serially numbered 23,746and 23,747, respectively. In the drawings, l indicates two side frames,

preferably in the form of castings, said frames carrying a shaft 2 atone of their extremities, upon which shaft are mounted pinions 3 in meshwith gears 4. These gears carry wristpins 5, upon which are mountedpitmen 6. 5o The side frames are provided with suitable openings 7, inwhich operate the cross-head carrying a plunger` 9, operating,preferably, between the frames. In order to close the i opening 7 duringthe entire movement of the 55 plunger in either direction, I prefer toarrange plates l0 on the plunger, which operate in suitable guideways onVthe inner faces of the side frames, as shown in Fig. 3.

11 indicates the bottom plate, which is 6o mounted between the sideframes, said bottom plate being preferably chambered for theintroduction of steam or hot water for purposes which will hereinafterbe described. This bottom plate is preferably formed with a horizontalface throughout the length of stroke of the plunger, the ends of saidplate being inclined upwardly from the horizontal portion in order thatthe material to be compressed will be subjected to a gradual pres- 7osure by the plunger. However, these ends may be straight or on the sameplane as the middle portion of the plate, in which event a greaterinclination should be given to the top plate, or vice versa.

12 indicates the top plate, Whose central portion is parallel to thecentral portion of plate l1 throughout the entire stroke of the plunger,the ends of said top plate inclining downwardly, as before described, orbeing on 8o the same plane as the middle, in which event a greaterinclination should be given to the ends of the bottom plate. In theconstruction shown the ends of both the top and bottom plates graduallyconverge to form a contracted mouth, the material being piled up andcompressed between said plates, and as said material is forced to traveloutwardly the converging top and bottom plates subject it to greaterpressure. The top plate is prefer- 9o ably formed with chambers 13 atits ends for the reception of steam or hot water whose heat is radiatedto the material being operated upon, so that said material is kept at aY high temperature during the time it is in the machine. I will alsostate that the plunger 9 is preferably made hollow toform a steam orhot-water chamber, as shown in Fig. 2,

suitable pipe connections being arranged to conduct steam or hot waterto and from these several chambers, said pipe connections `not appearingupon the drawings, but being well understood.

The top plate 12 carries slotted frames 13a on each side, in which aremounted suitable boxes, affording bearings lfor rollers 14. Theserollers are preferably made hollow and kept heated by steam or hotwater. I prefer to circumferentially corrugate the peripheries.

of these rollers, as shown in Fig. 5; but the same may be corrugatedlongitudinally, and gears 15, mounted on the'axles of the rollers, meshwith each other and drive said rollers in opposite directions, so as tocrush the material delivered therebetween and force it into the machine.Any suitable power may be employed to drive one or the other of therollers 14.

16 indicates crank-arms mounted on a rockshaft 17, preferably extendingtransversely under the machine, said crank or rock arms being slotted attheir outer ends -to receive the trunnions of the plunger, whereby whensaid plunger is vibrated said crank-arms will be rocked coincident-lytherewith.

18 indicates links connected to the crankarm 16 at their inner ends,their outer ends being connected to toggle-levers 19 and 20, the formerof which has fixed pivot-points, while the latter are pivotallyconnected to vertically-movable frames 21, mounted in suitable guideways22, said guideways being formed in thevouter faces of the legs of theside frames. These vertically-movable frames 21 carry'knife-blades 23,which pass through suitable openings in the top plate and serve to severthe compressed material into blocks as it issues from the machine.

24 indicates blades suitably secured between 'the top and bottom platesat the ends of the machines and beyond the path of the plunger. Thecutting edges of these blades are at their inner ends and terminate atthe stopping-point of the plunger in its stroke,

p while the outer ends of these blades preferably extend to theextremities of the top and bottom plates. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, thevertically-movable knives 23, which sever the material transversely, areslotted at 25 to receive the knife-blades 24.

2G indicates the end of a chute leading from some source of solid-fuelsupply, said fuel being supplied on said chute to be delivered to therollers 14 in given quantities. At some convenient point, preferablyabove the compressor, I arrange a tank (not shown) in which the liquidcombustible is heated and mixed if composed of more than one ingredient,said tank being tapped by looped pipe 27, whose connecting or crossmember is preferably perforated above one of the rollers 14'to deliverthe liquid combustible onto said roller, so that the liquid is fed intothe machine YWith the crushed material.

To keep the liquid combustible hot, I arthe top plate.

range a steam or hot-water pipe 28 in the pipe 27, as shown in Fig. 2.This liquid combustible preferably consists of a mixture composed ofthirty-two parts resin, two parts cedar-tops, and one part petroleum,thecedartops being broken from the tops and extremities of the-branches ofcedartrees and introduced into the melted resin and boiled. The objectin introducing the cedar-tops is not so much for the purpose ofextracting the resinous and combustible substance therefrom as it is toimpart a glaze tothe resin and petroleum, rendering the same susceptibleof being congealed more quickly after the fuel passes from the machine.

The pipe 29 is preferably arranged to deliver a blast of cold air ontothe fuel issuing from the discharge ends of the machine in order tocongeal the liquid ingredient, and as the blocks are forced beyond themachine I prefer to arrange a traveling belt for receiving said blocksand conducting them to some suitable point.

In operation the device illustrated in the accompanying drawings isdesigned to receive the corncobs directly from the corn-shellingmachine, an interposed feeding device being provided to prevent the cobscrowding the fuelecompressor, said feeding device serving to equalizethe feed to the compressor. As the cobs pass between the rollers 14 theyare crushed and at the same time forced into contact with the liquidcombustible suppliedfrom the pipe 27. The proportion of thisliquid-supply isin volume aboutone to threethat is, the pressed fuelcontains about one part of the liquid combustible and three partssolid-in this instance, corncobs. This mass, both liquid and solidmaterial, passing between the rollers 14 falls to one side or the otherof the plunger 9, that falling on top of the plunger being scraped oifby the edges of The links 18 are disconnected, so as to permit th'eknives 23V to remain in their lower position until the plunger builds upthe fuel at each end of the machine and compresses said fuel into acompact mass. The links are now connected to the rock-arm 16, and ateach movement of the plunger the material which is piled up in advancethereof is added to the mass of material at the ends of the machine. Bygiving to the top and bottom plates the proper inclination the fuel canbe compressed to the extent desired, the compression at each extremityof movement of lthe plunger occurring when the knives 23 are raised, sothat the material'after being compressed by the inclined top and bottomplates passes beyond said knives, and as the plunger recedes from theelevated knife said knife descends and severs the compressed material,this operation occurring at each end of the machine. The gradualcompression of the fuel and the length of time it takes the fuel to passthrough the machine after being introduced thereinto enable the liquidingredient to thoroughly saturate the solid, the

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contraction of the top and bottom plates at the discharge ends of themachine forcing the liquid and solid ingredients more intimatelytogether and making the mass more compact. When the Ablast of cold aircongeals the liquid material on the surface of the severed blocks, itenables said blocks to be handled and packed, the temperature of theblocks being further reduced by causing said blocks to travel somedistance along a conveyer-belt, upon which they lose their heat.

While I have shown a double-ended machine in the drawingsto wit, one inwhich the material is compressed and discharged at each end-it will beobvious that by interrupting the feed of material to the machine duringthat period of time that the plunger is moving in one direction theplunger can be made to press only in one movement. Such a single machinewould of course have but one-half the capacity of the machine shown inthe drawings.

If desired, I can arrange two or more knives or partitions 24 in eachend of the machine, which will increase the capacity of the machineaccordingly, orI may arrange both horizontal and vertical partitions inpigeonhole style, as is obvious.

It will be observed from a glance at Fig. 2 that the upper and lowerplates l2 and ll converge at each end of the machine only to a pointcoincident with the vertically-movable knives, after which they assumeeither a horizontal parallel direction or a slightlydiverging relationto each other. The object of having these ends of the machine horizontalor diver-ging is that when the mass which has been pressed in themachine is cut into blocks it can be more readily forced out of the endof the machine, having less tendency to stick together after being cutand permitting said blocks to expand, which they have a tendency to doafter their release from the converging portion of the machine.

I am aware that minor changes in the arrangement, construction, andcombination of the several parts of my device can be made andsubstituted for those herein shown and described without in the leastdeparting from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

l. In a machine of the character described, the combination with acasing, of a vibrating plunger operating therein, a rock-arm connectedto said plunger, a vertically-lnovable frame carrying a knife,toggle-levers for operating said frame, and a link connecting saidrock-arm and said toggle-levers substantially as described.

2. In a machine of the character described, the combination with asuitable casing having guideways, of a vertically-movable frame mountedin said guideways, a knife carried by said frame and designed totraverse the casing, toggle-levers for operating said frame, a plungerarranged within the casing for compressing the material, and connectionsbetween said plunger and said toggle-levers, whereby said knife-frame isreciprocated; substantially as described.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination with asteam-jacketed casing, of a hollow plunger operating in said casing,said plunger being designed to be heated by steam or hot water, hollowfeed rolls mounted midway the length of the casing, and heated, and asupplypipe for discharging liquid onto one of said heated feed-rolls,said supply-pipe containing a steam or hot-water pipe, whereby the sameis kept heated; substantially as described.

4.. In a machine of the character described, the combination with themeans for compressing and severing the material, the severed materialissuing from the discharge end of said machine, and a pipe fordeliveringa blast of cold air on the material as it issues from saiddischarge end; substantially as described.

5. In a machine of the character described, the combination with acasing, of a vibrating plunger therefor, a knife arranged on saidcasing, and means for operating said knife, the walls of said casingbeing formed converging beyond the stroke of the plunger to a pointcoincident with said knife, after which said walls are formed slightlydiverging; substantially as described.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination with aninclosing casing, of a reciprocating plunger arranged therein, areciprocating knife arranged in said casing, the walls of said casingbeyond the stroke of the plunger being formed converging to a pointcoincident with said reciprocating knife, beyond which said walls areformed diverging, means for operating said plunger, means connected tosaid plunger and to said reciprocating knife for operating the latter,corrugated feeding and crushing rolls arranged in j uXtaposition to afeed-opening formed in the casing, a conduit for delivering material tobe fed to the machine to said corrugated rolls, a conduit for deliveringa liquid onto said corrugated rolls whereby the first mentioned materialto be fed to the machine is caused to commingle and become saturatedWith said liquid, and a pipe designed to carry a heating agent arrangedin said liquid-conduit for keeping the same in a heated liquid state;substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aix my signature, in the presence of twowitnesses, this 11th day of July, 1900.

W'ARREN A. PATTERSON.

Witnesses:

WM. H. ScoTT, A. S. GRAY.

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